Epic Games has finally dropped its bombshell. Nearly five months after it launched on the Apple App Store, the uber-popular game Fortnite Battle Royale is finally available on Android. Albeit with a catch – for the first few days, the only Android devices on which Fortnite will be available are made by Samsung.

Gamers, however, won't necessarily have to buy the brand new Galaxy Note 9 or Tab S4; distributed through Samsung's Galaxy Apps store, millions of older Samsung devices all the way back to the Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, and or course the newer S9 and S9 Plus, Note 8, Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, and Tab S3 will be able to run Fortnite.

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It’s the icing on Fortnite’s multi-platform offering, after the game came out earlier on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows PCs and Macs.

If you don't have a Samsung, don't bother tapping your Google Play store icon to find Fortnite.. Once Samsung's exclusivity period is over (reportedly lasting just a few days), you will have to go to Epic and download the firm's own Game Launcher app.

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As Epic’s CEO Tim Sweeney announced on August 3, the company is bypassing the Google Play store. And that's where the problems begin. Fortnite fans have been asked to disable default security settings of their Android devices and download the game from a dedicated Fortnite app. What does it mean – not just for Epic, and the security of gamers, but more fundamentally for Google’s business model for Android?

“Google Play is very important for Android’s business model and even more so now following the huge fine the EU recently imposed on Google for forcing manufacturers to install its other apps,” says Daniel Gleeson, an analyst at Ovum. Last year, the total value of app revenue flowing through Google Play was $38.4 billion – and, adds Gleeson, Ovum forecasts it will rise to $47.6bn this year. Given Google’s 30 per cent cut on any payment, the company is expected to earn more than $14bn from Google Play in 2018 alone; games revenues make up over two-thirds of all Google Play income.

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It took Epic ages to release Fortnite on Android, and this may be a clue in itself: chances are that the company took its time to decide whether it should challenge Google and the mobile platform model. By distributing the game outside Google Play, Epic will not have to pay Google's 30 per cent 'tax'; for the game developers, this translates into instant profit.

The move, however, undermines the fundamental platform approach pursued by Google and its old frenemy Apple. Both iOS and Android offer developers access to a huge ecosystem of users tied into the functionality of their respective platforms. In return, Apple and Google can extract a hefty chunk of cash from all developers tapping into this ecosystem. Apple gets 30 per cent of all revenues flowing through its App store; Google Play gets the same revenue share (although many games that cost money on iOS are free on Android). This platform tax is a heavy burden on developers, but they have to grin and bear it as they need access to users.

There’s one key difference, though. Apple has its platform completely locked down. Android, on the other hand, offers a bit more flexibility; buried deep in its settings, it offers the option to disable a fundamental security setting and make it possible to install applications from third-party websites or app stores. That makes Android a less controlling platform than iOS, but Epic’s distribution strategy means that Android’s greater flexibility has come back to bite Google.

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It’s easy to see why Epic doesn't want to share the spoils of its epically successful shooter game. It offers Fortnite for free, but makes players pay for new skins, characters and other in-game perks - which in July helped the game pass the $1bn revenue threshold.

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For Epic, the move may be all about the money. And enabling app downloads from third-party websites may sound like an innocent change. However, for both users and Google itself, Epic’s strategy poses a fundamental threat. “Lots of Android malware relies upon users disabling Android's default setting, which only lets you install apps from the official Google Play store,” says independent security expert Graham Cluley. “For such a popular app to push potential players into disabling this security feature is not good at all.”

For starters, it opens the doors for plenty of scammers, who will try to trick users into downloading Fortnite from a website that looks like that of Epic Games. This could mean either outright malware that gives criminals full access to the user’s mobile device (and all the cloud services that go with it), or gamers may be getting real Fortnite downloads that may 'sideload' malware in the background. More importantly, many users are unlikely to turn the default security settings back on. As a result, they will open themselves to malware downloads from many other websites. The outcome: huge security and privacy risks.

Epic says that it believes its users are savvy enough to use the third-party applications download feature safely. With every Fortnite update, gamers will have to toggle security settings on and off again, which may soon persuade fans not to bother. “We have already seen a number of attacks using the disguise of add-ons and mods for Fortnite, often tempting users into disabling this very security feature,” says Cluley. “Now the app itself is encouraging Android users to do the same. I think it's risky for any Android user to disable this security setting unless they're fully aware of the additional risk they are exposing themselves to.”

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Now with the added security concerns about the download process, and more and more fake Fortnite apps appearing, gamers (and their parents) will need to be much more careful. “The security warning could cause problems for parents downloading the game for their kids; and it also opens up the risk of malicious clones,” says Gleeson.

From Google's point of view, the security risk is probably the lesser evil. If Epic’s Android strategy is a success, other developers of successful titles will think twice before signing up with Google Play in the future. And if they do that, Android may well cease to be a money spinner for Google. The platform model might break.

Google’s Play store is important both commercially and strategically, says Karol Severin, an analyst at MIDiA Research. It provides the company with a revenue stream separate from its advertising business, which means it can diversify from its overexposure to just one revenue stream. “It helps unlock more ad revenue as well as device market share,” says Severin. “Your smartphone is only as good as the things you can do with it.”

Epic Games

For most users, this begins and ends in the Play Store (or AppStore on iOS). If many apps started leaving Google Play Store, says Severin, while staying on iOS, it could lead to a marketing problem for Android devices. “If word gets out that the Play Store doesn’t have certain key apps that iOS does, it could drive a segment of consumers to switch in the next cycle.”

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For now, the presumption is that both platforms have ‘all apps’ so this currently isn’t a true part of the consumer’s decision-making process. But if leaving Google Play becomes a trend for successful apps to the extent that it becomes truly obvious, adds Severin, it could well prompt consumers to jump the Android boat in the future.

It’s unlikely, though, that all developers will abandon the Play Store en masse. A few other successful developers may follow, but Gleeson from Ovum believes that Fortnite is very much an exception. “It is in a place of unparalleled market power for a video game and so can be confident that its players will be willing to go out of their way to install the game,” he says. “The success of Fortnite’s strategy will be closely watched by other big franchises, but right now, simply nothing has the pulling power of Fortnite.”

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Most apps, says Timothy O’Shea at Jefferies, will still chose to list on Google Play because of its broad reach and ease of use. Only the biggest and best-known apps will have enough marketing firepower to avoid these platforms, he adds.

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So why does Apple get away with its 30 per cent platform tax and Google doesn't? For once, iOS doesn’t allow downloading apps that aren't approved by Apple’s internal review process - a classic example of Apple’s walled garden approach reaping the benefits, thinks Severin. While Android’s “legendary openness”, says O’Shea, and how Epic exploits it is a “prime example why the EU’s antitrust case against Android makes no sense.” In contrast, Epic has to pay “hefty platform fees to Apple, Microsoft and Sony”.

Epic may not mind, because the company knows that Apple’s consumers, for example, spend significantly more money than Android users. This year, Apple’s AppStore has already generated twice the amount of revenue than Google Play store, despite getting a lower amount of downloads and having a lower amount of active devices. “While Android’s audience is mainly valuable due to size, the iOS audience is mainly valuable due to their spending habits,” says Severin.

Epic's move may turn out to be epic not just for the gamers playing Fortnite, but also for all the users with hijacked smartphones and ultimately Google itself.